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arXiv · 2201.09720

Constraining galaxy overdensities around three z~6.5 quasars with ALMA and MUSE

Romain A. Meyer·Roberto Decarli·Fabian Walter·Qiong Li·Ran Wang·Chiara Mazzucchelli·Eduardo Bañados·Emanuele P. Farina·Bram Venemans
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Abstract

We quantify galaxy overdensities around three high-redshift quasars with known [CII] 158um companions: PJ231-20 (z=6.59), PJ308-21 (z=6.24) and J0305-3150 (z=6.61). Recent SCUBA2 imaging revealed the presence of 17 submillimeter galaxies (SMG) with sky separations $0.7'< \theta < 2.4'$ from these three quasars. We present ALMA Band 6 follow-up observations of these SCUBA2-selected SMGs to confirm their nature and redshift. We also search for continuum-undetected [CII] emitters in the ALMA pointings and make use of archival MUSE observations to search for Lyman-$\alpha$ Emitters (LAE) associated with the quasars. While most of the SCUBA2-selected sources are detected with ALMA in the continuum, no [CII] line emission could be detected, indicating that they are not at the quasar redshifts. Based on the serendipitous detection of CO 7-6 and [CI] emission lines, we find that four SMGs in the field of PJ231-20 are at z~2.4, which is coincident with the redshift of a Mg II absorber in the quasar rest-frame UV spectrum. We report the discovery of 2 LAEs within <0.6 cMpc of PJ231-20 at the same redshift, indicating a LAE overdensity around this quasar. Taken together, these observations provide new constraints on the large-scale excess of Lyman-$\alpha$- and [CII]-emitting galaxies around z>6 quasars and suggest that only wide-field observations, such as MUSE, ALMA or JWST mosaics, can reveal a comprehensive picture of large-scale structure around quasars in the first billion years of the Universe.

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Romain A. Meyer, Roberto Decarli, Fabian Walter, Qiong Li, Ran Wang, Chiara Mazzucchelli, Eduardo Bañados, Emanuele P. Farina, Bram Venemans. 2022-01-24. Constraining galaxy overdensities around three z~6.5 quasars with ALMA and MUSE. https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357%2Fac4f67

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